(Note: I recently coined SN@TO as a tag for Saturday night at the Opera. Previous entries here and here.)
Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov was the second of this season's Metropolitan Opera's HD transmissions of live performances to movie theaters around the country starting at 12 pm EDT. The a priori artistic interest was high not least because it is a new production this season and for the contributions of conductor Valery Gergiev and bass René Pape in the title role.
My Mom (age 81) and my sister (turned 50 this year) rather surprised me when they decided to come along, so I had the advantage of their 'naïve' perspective in addition to my own more seasoned take.
The Cast
René Pape's performance of the tormented tsar Boris is as fine a reading as one could hope to hear in any time or place. Though I have yet to hear him live, he has long since confirmed his standing among the great basses of my younger years. The sound is in many ways reminiscent of both Kurt Moll and Martti Talvela.
The characterization was quite vivid and the depiction of Boris's mental breakdowns quite convincing– for example, in Act II it was taken aback to see him trip on the first step leading to the throne. It looked like a real, accidental trip and I wondered how he would recover. But of course, it was all in character.
Aleksandrs Antonenko as Grigory (the false Dimitri) was a worthy foil, able to carry the weight of dramatic interest during the lengthy sections of the opera when Boris is far from the action. He has a strong and clear tenor voice quite undaunted by the high notes. I was previously unacquainted with his voice, but would be happy to hear him in any role he cares to undertake.
In combination with the lustrous mezzo of Ekaterina Semenchuk as Marina the 'Polish Act' was quite riveting, though the acoustics were off. The voices were noticeably less present in the transmission. I attribute this to the set which was quite minimal for this scene and very deep on the stage, so a lot of their sound may have been lost.
There was really not a weak link in the cast. And with many native speakers, that authentic Russian sound was amply present.
My only quibble was that since we had a genuine pre-adolescent boy (Jonathan A. Makepeace) in the role of Boris's son Feodor, it would have been more dramatically convincing to have a younger female singer as Xenia, Boris's daughter.
The Production
The sets were evocative without being overly elaborate, and enabled seamless transitions from one scene to the next. And the stage direction was largely at the service of the story as written, though I didn't love all the touches.
Foremost among these was the promotion in importance of the Simpleton. His music is far from the most interesting in the score, and the repetition of his lament between the first and third scenes of Act IV (a repetition never contemplated by Mussorgsky) is, IMO, one of the biggest weaknesses of our preferred version.
So to justify his Act IV peregrinations, he gets a prominent (though silent) role in the prologue. In fact before the music begins we have a pantomime with him attempting to give a rock (signifying?) to Boris, a rock that he eventually succeeds in giving to him in Act IV, Scene 1. And his epileptic contortions were the most prominent part of the first scene. I didn't enjoy watching him and I don't see what he was intended to add. But, judging from the ovations in the House at the end, he was a favorite with the audience.
The coronation scene was odd. First in that we had the actual coronation taking place outside rather than in the cathedral out of view. And then he hardly has the crown on for a moment before he takes it off again for his solo. I admit it's a difficult moment dramatically. Some of the monologue is clearly addressed to the crowd, but his expressions of doubt and fear are more likely intended as his inner thoughts.
At the end of the scene we see Boris mounting a throne, and he (as well as a crowd of attendants) remain in plain view as we go without pause to Pimen's cell in the monastery. This is a quite intimate scene, and to me it needs to suggest a small space. And then it got me worrying whether he was going to make poor René Pape sit there until his next entrance almost an hour later. But he was allowed to get up and leave after a few minutes. All a distraction, IMO.
I didn't know what to make of the costumes of Marina's ladies-in-waiting in the Polish Act. They had a kind of 'Regency' look to me (dresses with no bodice and feathered hats, all white).
And shouldn't the sign of the cross in the opening scene have been done in Orthodox fashion (right shoulder-left shoulder) rather than Latin (left-right)? Then when it comes up in the Polish Act, we would see it the other way.
I'm probably overfussy. My sister, who had no previous exposure to the work, was quite riveted by the action throughout and was actually quite apprehensive as to the outcome of the action at several points.
Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev's conducting was fine, as expected. He took what seemed to me unusually brisk tempos in the opening of the coronation scene and the opening of Act IV.
Both my Mom and my sister thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In fact, my sister is full of enthusiasm for this mode of presentation and intends to see more later in the season. So I think those of you who were curious but worried about the length, can put your fears aside. Go ahead and see the encore. You'll like it.
I have to go out for dinner. So it may be a while before I can respond to comments, but I will be back.